The Best Denim Shirts Are a Cheat Code for Good Style

You know how the right rug really ties a room together? That’s what a great denim shirt will do for your spring wardrobe. GQ’s Best Stuff tracked down the eight hardiest, handsomest models on the market.

The next time you run into any sort of wardrobe-related dilemma, here’s the first question you need to ask yourself: Would a denim shirt fix this problem? Eighty percent of the time, it probably will. For instance:

Got your sixth wedding of the summer coming up and fully tapped out of dress-shirt-and-tie combos you like? Throw a denim shirt into the mix, and your tired cotton suit’s suddenly supercharged with rugged sex appeal.

Copped some wild patterned pants on a whim and now concerned you can’t pull them off? A classically handsome denim shirt will lock ‘em down and balance out the swerviness.

Giving an important presentation at work when your trousers embarrassingly split right down the seat? OK, well, a denim shirt probably can’t help you there. That’s when you ask yourself question number two: What’s my tailor’s phone number again?

So, yeah: denim shirts are useful. Like, having-a-sibling-who’s-a-contractor useful. And the two most useful kinds of denim shirts are button-down and western, which you’ll probably want in a medium-to-light wash for maximum versatility. Here are eight choice cuts that’ll help to really tie your fits together.

The A-List Denim Shirt

Brunello Cucinelli western chambray denim button-down shirt

Ever see paparrazi snaps of dudes like Brad Pitt or Ryan Gosling and wonder how their seemingly regular clothes always look so damn crisp and impeccably just-so? Well, for starters, they're much, much better looking than you. That tends to help. But the good genetics also extend to their wardrobes: guys like that can afford shirts like this one, exactingly engineered by Italian tailoring god Brunello Cucinelli to make anyone—even mere mortals like you—look and feel like a matinee idol. The chambray is the ideal weight—light enough to be comfortable, thick enough for some structure—and the cut is trim and sharp like a dress shirt, which means you can wear it tucked in with a suit or rolled up and rumpled with chinos and it'll never not radiate perfectly imperfect movie star cool.

The Vintage-y Denim Shirt

Calvin Klein Jeans classic denim shirt

This is the kind of denim shirt people spend years scouring thrift stores to find. Between the slightly longer, pointier collar, the chain-stitched pockets, and the totally natural-looking beat-to-shit wash, it's easy to imagine this once belonged to some Iowan farmhand in the '70s who wore it everyday for a decade. Instead, it's brand spankin' new—free of all pit stains and mothball stank—readily and widely available for your copping pleasure. A lot of folks are still curious to see exactly where Calvin Klein heads following their acrimonious split from Raf Simons; as long as they keep making shirts that slap this hard, they’ll be just fine.

The Low-Key Grail Denim Shirt

Prada vintage effect denim shirt

OK, sure: we’ll grant you that at first glance, this shirt—the most expensive one on the list—looks a lot like any other you’ve ever seen. But take another look, really look at it, and you’ll start to see all the subtle wit and technical mastery that certified fit genius Miuccia Prada poured into it. There’s the note-perfect tailoring, for one thing: it’s got all the traditional sport shirt fixings you’d expect, from the button-down collar to the curved hem to the locker loop on the back, with the added bonus of a couple understated side pleats to keep things looking extra clean. But the cherry on top is the wash of the denim itself—it’s relatively uniform all the way through, save for a darker strip along the placket that sorta reads like an offbeat racing stripe, and a triangle on the pocket meant to invoke Prada’s uber-iconic logo. Most of the time, you’ll be the only one who knows you’re wearing a galaxy-brain-level grail—to all but the geekiest of fashion heads, it’ll just be a really nice, slightly quirky denim shirt. The sneaky pride you’ll feel is worth the full price of admission.

The Gold Standard Denim Shirt

Levi's "Barstow" western shirt

You knew it was coming. More than 160 years into their run, it's hard to picture anybody coming for Levi's crown. The first name in jeans still makes one of the best western shirts you'll find anywhere: the fit is just right, the details are on point, and the fabric of this particular version is made sustainbly using way less water than regular denim. Oh, yeah, and that $70 pricetag ain't terrible, either.

The Office-Ready Denim Shirt

Abercrombie & Fitch denim shirt

Thanks to designer Aaron Levine's Midas touch, Abercrombie is suddenly a treasure trove of elevated, wallet-friendly essentials. The rebooted A&F already makes some of our fave affordable jeans and rugby shirts, and now you can add this button-down to the list. It's got the exact same silhouette as your go-to oxford shirt, only beefed up in hardy washed denim to give all your office looks a little extra texture and character. Another big win for the Moose.